Purdue Fort Wayne Women’s Basketball Suffers a Close Loss in Regular Season Finale.

By Gavin Greer

Purdue Fort Wayne women’s basketball team suffered a close loss today in their season finale. PFW was within three points with 1:27 remaining in the game but they could not get it any closer. PFW ultimately lost 64-70 against Green Bay.

The Mastodons shot pretty well today as they went 46.3% from the field and 34.4% from three. Unfortunately they did not get many free throw attempts, but in the attempts they got they shot 60%. Green Bay shot 38.3% from the field, 36.7% from three and 81.3% from the free throw line.

PFW went 3-5 from the line while Green Bay went 13-16. This big difference in attempts from the line shows how Green Bay was able to have the edge in the game.

PFW was led on offense today by Ryin Ott. Ott led the Mastodons with 18 points. Green Bay was led by Sydney Levy who had 20 points.

Green Bay also dominated PFW in rebounds today. Green Bay had 41 boards compared to PFW’s 29. Green Bay was led in this stat by Jasmine Kondrakiewicz who had 14. PFW was led by Amellia Bromenschenkel who had 10 rebounds.

With the win Green Bay moved to 25-4 on the season. They finish their season on an 11 game win streak and with the best record in the Horizon League which was 18-2.

Green Bay will start their Horizon League tournament play on Thursday against the lowest remaining seed from the first round.

With the loss PFW ended their regular season with a record of 12-18. They ended with a conference record of 9-11. They end the season sitting at 6th in the Horizon League.

PFW will play their first game of the Horizon League tournament on Tuesday. From what the standings are now, it looks like the team will have their first game of the tournament at home against #11 Detroit Mercy.

Purdue Fort Wayne Men’s Volleyball Team Beats Lewis University in Four Sets.

By Gavin Greer

Purdue University men’s volleyball team beat Lewis University tonight in four sets. Set scores were 25-23, 25-12, 13-23 and 27-25.

This win takes PFW to a 3-3 record against conference opponents and gives them a win streak of two matches.

Tonight PFW stood out in the categories of blocks and hitting.

As a team PFW had 16.5 blocks and only had one block error. Lewis only totaled 6.5 blocks and had two block errors. PFW was led by Jon Diedrich who had a match high eight blocks. Lewis was led in this stat by four players, Max Roquet, Michael Sack, Antonio Elias Rodriguez and Daniel Haber who each had two blocks.

The Mastodons hitting percent was .310. Zach Solomon was PFW’s leader in this stat with a hitting percentage of 1.000. Lewis was led by Tyler Morgan who also had a percentage of had 1.000.

With the loss Lewis University fall to 8-9 on the year and 2-4 in the conference. They currently sit at 6th in the MIVA.

With the win PFW moves to a record of 12-4. They are 5th in the MIVA.

The Mastodons next match will be against Loyola Chicago on Saturday Mar. 4. This is an important matchup as Loyola is 1st in the MIVA and have a 5-0 record against conference opponents.

Purdue Fort Wayne Men’s Basketball Team Narrowly Lose to Milwaukee

By Gavin Greer

Purdue Fort Wayne men’s basketball team lost 94-96 tonight against Milwaukee. PFW had held the advantage up until seven minutes left in the game but once Milwaukee built a lead the Mastodons were not able to come back.

Despite losing PFW played very well tonight. They shot 55% from the field, 43% from three and 79% from the free throw line. Milwaukee shot 52% from the field, 42% from three and 68% from the line.

PFW’s Jarred Godfrey had a great performance tonight as he scored 21 points, collected six rebounds, dished five assists, rejected one shot and picked up two steals.

Milwaukee’s Kentrell Pullman led his team with 25 points, three rebounds and three assists.

PFW’s entire starting five scored in the double digits tonight. Bobby Planutis had 13, Damian Chong Qui had 13, Ra Kpedi totaled 11 and Deonte Billups finished with 18.

With the win Milwaukee moved to 19-10 on the season. They are 3rd in the Horizon League. Their next matchup is Saturday against Cleveland State.

With their los the Mastodons fall to to 16-14 on the season. They sit at 9th in the Horizon League. Their next matchup is Saturday at 5 p.m. against Green Bay. This is PFW’s last game before the Horzion League Championship Tournament.

Purdue Fort Wayne Women’s Basketball Team Suffers a Big Loss Against Milwaukee

By Gavin Greer

Purdue Fort Wayne women’s basketball team lost by 30 tonight against Milwaukee. This loss takes their record on the road to 4-8 this season.

The Mastodons were awful from the field tonight shooting 24% in total, 18% from three and 33% from the free throw line. Milwaukee had a far better shooting performance as they shot 46% from the field, 25% from three and 92% from the line. It’s hard to win a game when your opponent shoots this much better than you.

PFW had a slow start to the game as they could get nothing going, they ended the first quarter down 2-21.

PFW only led the game in one category. PFW had 11 offensive rebounds compared to Milwaukee’s 9. But other than this stat, Milwaukee dominated every thing else.

PFW was led tonight by Shayla Sellers who had eight points, eight rebounds, two assists and one block.

Milwaukee was led by Megan Walstad who had 17 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, three blocks and two steals.

With their win Milwaukee improves to 10-17 on the season. They sit at 7th in the Horizon League. Their next game will be Saturday against Cleveland State.

With tonights loss PFW falls to 12-17 on the season. They sit at 6th in the Horizon League.

The Mastodons next game is Saturday at 2 p.m. against Green Bay. This will be the teams last game before they play in the Horizon League Championship tournament.

Purdue Fort Wayne Men’s Volleyball Defeats MIVA Opponent McKendree in Four Sets.

By Gavin Greer

Purdue Fort Wayne men’s volleyball team won tonight in four sets, 3-1, against McKendree. Set scores were 25-22, 25-22, 23-25 and 25-20.

After two losses in a row, PFW bounced back with a strong performance against another MIVA opponent.

The Mastodons did not really stand out in any area of the game tonight, as each set was very close. The only areas that PFW led the game in, were serving, hit percentage and blocks.

As a team PFW scored seven aces and only had 14 service errors. McKendree only scored two aces and had 17 service errors. Mark Frazier led all players in this stat with four aces. His teammates, Bryce Walker and Ryan Steponaitis added the rest as Walker had two aces and Steponatis had one. McKendree was led by Tyler Tripp and Kyle Wilson who each had one ace.

PFW had a .205% hitting percentage while McKendree hit .189%. PFW’s best percentage belonged to Steponaitis who hit .571%. McKendree’s Daniel Duggan had a game high .636%.

Just like the other stats mentioned, PFW only had a slight advantage in blocks. The Mastodons had 25 compared to McKendree’s 20. PFW had three players, Frazier, Steponaitis and Walker who each totaled six blocks. McKendree had two players with four blocks, Duggan and Rolen Lively.

While PFW did not lead in team kills, Jon Diedrich led all players in kills with 15. Bryce Wetjen led McKendree with 10 kills.

With the loss McKendree falls to 6-6 on the season and 1-4 in MIVA play. Their next match will be Saturday against #10 ranked Loyola Chicago.

With the win the Mastodons move to 11-4 on the season and 2-3 in MIVA play. The teams next match will be at 7 p.m. on Friday at home against MIVA opponent, Lewis.

Purdue Fort Wayne Men’s Golf Team Finishes 9th in the Mickey Mouse Intercollegiate.

By Gavin Greer

Purdue Fort Wayne men’s golf team finished 9th out of 16 colleges at the Mickey Mouse Intercollegiate. PFW tied with St. Thomas for 9th place. This event ran from Sunday till this afternoon.

The Mastodons had two golfers in the top 20 of the 91-player field. Kasey Lilly and Hunter Mefford cracked the top 20 as they tied for 17th place.

Lilly shot 219 in total, 70 in round one, 74 in round two and 75 in round three.

Mefford also shot 219 having 74 in round one, 74 in round two and finishing round three on his birthday with 71.

Three other PFW golfers took part in the event. Nick Holder finished 35th in the event, Burke Pitz finished 43rd and Jadden Ousley finished 82nd.

As a team PFW finished with a score of 852.

The event was won by Wofford College who had a team score of 852. They were led by Matthew Larkin who finished 1st in the event as he shot 205.

The Mastodons next time out will be at the Daytona Beach Spring Invitational. This will be a two day event that will run from Mar. 6 to Mar. 7.

Purdue Fort Wayne Men’s Basketball Team Makes Sports Center Top 10 as They Win Their Senior Day Game Against Wright State

By Gavin Greer

On Sunday Purdue Fort Wayne men’s basketball team won their senior day matchup against Wright State 77-75. The win came off of senior Damian Chong Qui’s buzzer beater three pointer. This shot ended up as No. 1 on the Sports Center Top 10 for Sunday night.

To go with this game winner, Chong Qui scored 16 points for the Mastodons.

PFW’s Head Coach, Jon Coffman, talked about Chong Qui after the game.

“Damian’s deserved this. His numbers haven’t played out the way I think he is as a shooter and a scorer, but I keep telling him numbers play out. That confidence he has is playing out,” said Coffman.

Before the game PFW honored their four seniors, Jarred Godfrey, Bobby Planutis, Chong Qui and Ra Kpedi. Each senior played an important role in the tight win.

Godfrey led all scorers with 25 points. He also added five rebounds and two assists. Wright State was led in points by Alex Huibregtse who scored 24.

Kpedi’s contribution to the game came in the form of a game high 15 rebounds. This tied his career high. Wright State was led by Brandon Noel in this stat. Noel had 11 boards.

Planutis added seven points on ¾ shooting. He also grabbed two rebounds.

PFW started the game off hot, at one point taking a 12-point lead. Eventually the Mastodons cooled off and Wright State took control. This shift came after Wright State shot 63% in the second half. The miraculous shot by Chong Qui saved the Mastodons from having their senior day spoiled.

Chong Qui talked about his performance following the game.

“It’s an amazing feeling, definitely being senior night and being our last home game. To win that game the way we won it our last time being on this floor, it means a lot,” said Chong Qui.

With the loss Wright State drops to 16-13 on the season and 9-9 in Horizon League play. They sit at a tie with Robert Morris and Detroit Mercy for 6th in Horizon League.

Wright States next game will be Thursday against Oakland.

With the win PFW move to 16-13 on the year and 8-10 in Horizon League play. They are currently 9th in the Horizon League.

PFW’s next game will be on the road Thursday at 8:30 p.m. against Milwaukee.

Purdue Fort Wayne’s Baseball Team Kicked Off Their Season by Facing Alabama State in a Four Game Weekend Series.

By Gavin Greer

Purdue Fort Wayne’s baseball team had their season opening series this weekend in Alabama against Alabama State. The two teams played four times from Friday to Sunday. Friday had one game, Saturday had two games and finally Sunday had one last game.

In Friday’s series opening game PFW lost their first game of the season 0-13. The Mastodons could not get anything going at the plate as they totaled only three hits as a team.

PFW’s pitching started off poor as JD Deany allowed 8 earned runs in 1.2 innings. Bryce Marten had the best pitching performance out of the four PFW pitchers who threw in this game. Martens pitched 3.0 innings and only allowed one earned run.

The first game of Saturday went way better for the Mastodons as they earned their only win of the weekend in a 4-3 victory over Alabama State. PFW again only had three hits as a team in this game, but these hits led to runs.

PFW pitcher Jacob Myer started the game strong as he struck out seven batters in 4.2 innings. Justin Miller earned a save by not allowing a run in the final inning.

The second game of Saturday did not go well for PFW as they lost 4-18. Rex Stills started the game off badly by allowing six runs in 3.1 innings. Enas Hayden helped Alabama State grow their lead by allowing five runs in a single inning.

Jarrett Bickel was PFWs best performer as he reached base three times, once from a hit and twice off walks. Through this he was able to score two runs.

On Sunday the final game of the series was played. This was a closer contest as PFW fell short losing 11-13. Grant Thoroman was the Mastodons top performer in this game as he batted 3/5 and totaled five RBIs.

PFW will next time out will come on Friday at 7 p.m., this will be the first game of a four-game series against Bethune-Cookman.

 PFW will look to play better next week and improve their 1-3 record.

PFW will need to perform better at pitching going forward in the season. In their three losses against Alabama State, they allowed at least 13 runs in each game. It is hard to win when you cannot rely on your pitchers to keep a lead for you.

Purdue Fort Wayne Women’s Softball Team Gets Three Wins During the Bob Heck Classic

By Gavin Greer

Purdue Fort Wayne women’s baseball team took part in the Bob Heck Classic in Georgia this weekend. From Friday to Sunday PFW played five games. On Friday they played Rhode Island and Georgia State, Saturday they played Eastern Kentucky and Rhode Island and finally on Sunday they played Georgia State again.

In the first game of the Classic, PFW picked up their first win of the season. This win came on Friday in a 6-1 victory over Rhode Island. Grace Hollopeter was the star of this game. She went 2/3 batting, hitting two homeruns and getting four RBIs. Pitcher Alanah Jones threw seven strikeouts and added a home run for PFW.

The second game PFW played Friday ended in a 5-6 loss to Georgia State. Hollopeter and Jones stayed hot as they both hit a home run.

On Saturday PFW picked up two more wins. The first came against Eastern Kentucky. The Mastodons won this game 2-1. Jones continued her success in the Classic as she pitched again, and this time tallied five strike outs. She also added to her homerun total as she went yard again.

Then later in the day PFW beat Rhode Island again, this time 12-3. Taryn Jenkins was the star of this game as she batted 2/3, hit two home runs and gathered five RBIs. Hollopeter also added a home run.

On the final day of the Classic, PFW had a rematch with Georgia State. This time PFW lost 6-7. Jenkins was the star again as she batted 2/3 and had two RBIs. While PFW batted well in this matchup, the defense allowed too many runs.

The Mastodons performance in this Classic should hopefully boost the team’s morale as they saw a lot of improvement at the plate. Going into the classic the team had only 16 hits and one run through six games. The team has hopefully found their stride and will continue playing well.

PFW will kick off their play in the Evansville’s 2023 Aces Home Tournament #2 on Friday. They will play their first game of the tournament at 10 a.m. versus Bowling Green. Later in the day at 12:30 p.m., they will play the host Evansville.

PFW is now 3-8 on the season. The team will look to improve this record as they will have five games in this tournament next weekend.

Purdue Fort Wayne Men’s Volleyball Team Loses in Five Sets Against Ball State.

By Gavin Greer

Purdue Fort Wayne’s mens team fell in five sets, 2-3 against #11 ranked Ball Sate last night. Set scores were 20-25, 26-24, 22-25, 25-10 and 8-15.

This matchup was a rematch of last year’s MIVA Championship which saw BSU winning their first MIVA Championship since 2002.

PFW put up another great performance against a ranked opponent this week. Their first ranked opponent this week was Ohio State who the Mastodons played on Thursday.

PFW dominated in kills against BSU. PFW had 61 compared to BSU’s 48. PFW’s Jon Diedrich led all players in kills with 28. This performance tied his career best mark for kills. Bryce Walker and Carlos Mercado added to the teams kills total with Walker having 13 and Mercado scoring nine kills .

Another area that PFW had the edge over BSU in, was assists. The Mastodons had 58 while BSU had 45.

PFW’s Zach Solomon led all players in this stat with 47 assists. The next closest to this total was BSU’s Jakub Wiercinski who had 39.

The only statistic that BSU had the upper hand in was blocks. They had 26 compared to PFW’s five. Wiercinski led all players in this area with 11.

With this win Ball State improved to 7-5 on the season. This win got them back to .500 in MIVA play with a 2-2 conference record. Their next match will be at Lindenwood on Feb. 24.

With the loss PFW suffered their first back-to-back loss of the season and fell to a record of 10-4. They are now 1-3 in MIVA play.

They will look to get back into winning form on Wednesday as they face off against McKendree at 8 p.m. on the road.